IT’S ANOTHER BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE

MIKEL ARTETA has admitted that every time his office door opens these days he expects more bad news.

The honeymoon period, the Arsenal boss admitted, is definitely over – after just 11 months in charge.

As if a humbling 3-0 home thumping by Aston Villa before the international break was not bad enough, Arteta then saw Sead Kolasinac and Mohamed Elneny test positve for Covid-19.

Pierre-emerick Aubameyang, caught up in chaos while playing for Gabon in the Africa Cup of Nations, was s forced to sleep on an airport floor. And to top it all,

Brazilian winger Wilian then went on a trip to Dubai without permission from the club. Throw in the trainingground bust-up between

David Luiz and Dani Ceballos

(right), and it’s not been the best preparation for a trip to

Leeds.

Arteta (top) said: “I come in and I am expecting someone to come through the door and give me bad news. All the time you are resolving problems and it is very energy-consuming.“

Arteta, who claims he has dealt with the dispute between Luiz and Ceballos along with Willian’s unscheduled trip, says it’s hard to keep a grip on discipline during a pandemic.

The Spaniard said: “It’s impossible – we have so many rules, so many guidelines. Sometimes, without even thinking, you break them. In training when you give a bib to someone you think: ‘I cannot do that, someone has to come and get it with gloves.’”

And about his honeymoon period ending so soon? “The honeymoon is a consequence of when you do things right,” he said. “When I lose a game it takes me a week to get over it.

“When we lose it the way we lost against Villa it’s even harder because it makes me think about things in the past I hated.

“There are a lot of things to change and improve – me first. It is going to be a bumpy road. I said that on the first day.

“But the optimism that I have, the belief that I have in where we are going, is great, even though the challenges since I joined have been enormous.”